Preparation to the portrait of Voltaire 

Curator: Immediately, I sense a witty unease from this piece, as though the sitter is privy to a joke at my expense, but perhaps, delightfully, at his own. Editor: Well, prepare to be further delighted! This is “Preparation to the Portrait of Voltaire” by Maurice Quentin de la Tour. A pastel drawing offering us a glimpse behind the scenes. Curator: Voltaire! Of course. It radiates intellect. You can practically hear him crafting pointed remarks about, oh, everything! The man was an institution, an intellectual juggernaut! De la Tour's Rococo touch just perfects that spark of rebellious mischief. The drawing medium softens his hard edges as well. It invites familiarity. Editor: Indeed, this preparatory study beautifully encapsulates Voltaire's iconic persona. It makes you consider how portraits convey status, identity, but perhaps the symbols that seem fixed in the artwork are nothing other than just a part of someone getting ready to pose, getting ready to perform. Curator: It makes me think of other performance of identity, such as masks for the theater. His powdered wig for example. It’s almost comically grandiose – the physical manifestation of the era’s self-conscious theatricality, which he of course helped to usher. Are we looking at Voltaire, the individual, or at the era of Voltaire in his head and in his lifetime? Editor: Good point. It is hard to know where a person stops and culture starts, particularly as the image is captured here only in draft. Speaking of theatricality, I also see in this sketch the visual echoes of philosophers from prior eras too, such as Erasmus in his portraits by Holbein. La Tour pulls on visual motifs across generations and cultures to tell us something fresh. Curator: It feels like it breaks out of time! The lightness of the medium almost deconstructs Voltaire, who still feels surprisingly vital in the modern era. Perhaps more people need a deconstructed god in order to digest his philosophy. Editor: Maybe what we see here isn't really about who Voltaire was, but about what we all want to believe he stood for. Perhaps our ability to look deeper into this artwork and others like it will provide a bridge to our values too.